Access to abortion has changed dramatically in the three years since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Twelve states currently ban the procedure with limited exceptions, and another four have outright bans after six weeks of pregnancy.

Stephanie's eye looks at a new report that examines whether these bans have led to a drop in abortions as supporters had hoped.

William, according to the latest data from the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that advocates for abortion rights,

there were just over a million clinician provided abortions in states where it was legal in

2024. The numbers were up slightly from the previous year. The data further shows that the number

of people who cross state lines for the procedure dropped nearly 9%. For an update on the current

state of abortion access, I'm joined by Mary Ziegler, professor at UC Davis.

She's written several books on abortion rights, including personhood, which is out later this

month. Mary Ziegler, thank you so much for joining the news hour. So three years out from the Dobs

decision, several states have outright bans, and yet the number of abortions tallied by

Guttmacher has held steady, and other data shows abortions have increased more than 10% since

2020. What is your reaction to this latest data? It isn't surprising, in a sense, we've seen

that passing a ban and enforcing a ban are two very different things,

particularly when both pills and people are crossing state lines in the way we've seen since 2022.

And I think the real question going forward is either whether states can project their power across state lines,

for example, by prosecuting people in states where abortion rights are protected,

or whether

instead the Trump administration is going to impose some sort of national limit, that changes the

calculus. Otherwise, I think, will likely continue to see data like these in the years to come.

And the Guttmacher Institute says the total number of abortions it tallied is likely an undercount

because it doesn't reflect self-administered medication abortions it tallied is likely an undercount because it doesn't reflect

...